Rudy Gobert Looks Like He's Spent His Offseason Getting Ready To Have His Revenge On Draymond Green
I think it's fair to suggest that its been a pretty long summer/offseason for Rudy Gobert. His Wolves flamed out in the WCF (plus Luka's game winner over him) after many considered them to be the eventual champions after knocking out the Nuggets. Then once the Olympics rolled around he barely played in spots while guys like Yabu and Wemby looked awesome, which of course brought on an additional wave of trolling. Even after the Olympics, not a day goes by where someone isn't taking a random shot at Gobert, whether that's Dereck Lively talking crazy or Shaq calling him the worst NBA player of all time.
Well you know what? It's clear that Gobert has had enough. It's time for him to fight back, and by the looks of things he's getting ready
Now you may be thinking
"Greenie, who gives a fuck it's football season" or "Greenie, every NBA player trains like this, big deal" or "Greenie he didn't land a single punch and got punched in the face"
and for the most part you'd be right. The thing is though, Gobert is arguably the only player in the NBA that is actually going to have situations where his new fighting skills might come into play. And I'll admit, that video doesn't exactly have me shaking in my boots, but given what we all saw happen last season it makes sense for Gobert be ready to defend himself heading into the year
Be honest, what are we settling the chances are that Draymond once again tries to fight Gobert this year? We know Draymond doesn't really give a shit about his past incidents when it comes to having an opportunity to punch/kick/choke out Gobert. You're telling me there won't be another GS/MIN matchup where everyone is a little bit on edge? In one corner you have the up and coming Wolves looking to make a statement at the top of the West as true contenders. In the other, you have Draymond & Steph doing everything they can to hold onto the glory days. It seems entirely possible that with the Wolves up 10 points or something we see Gobert block Draymond, say something because those two hate each other, and then all bets are off
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so to be ready for that moment (and I'm sure to help his cardio) Gobert decides gets some fighting reps in this offseason. Granted if I were a Wolves fan I would maybe prefer to see some offseason clips of Gobert working on his offensive game and not having stones for hands, but that's just me. Just give me some clips of one (1) post move and I'll take that over seeing him sparring. I understand why both are important, but given the fact that the NBA is mostly a HOLLLLDDDDD MEEEEEEE BAAAAACKKKK type league in 2024, something tells me the post offense reps might be more important for Gobert and the Wolves moving forward.
Sometimes I wonder if there's anything Gobert can do to change the narrative around him. It feels like now that the internet and other NBA players as a whole have decided to hate the guy and talk about him like he's the worst player ever, that's just something Gobert is never going to be able to change. Maybe if he plays a huge role in a Wolves title? Eh, people would probably just give all the credit to Ant. Maybe if he legit knocks Draymond out or something? That could work, but probably not. He does his best to reply on Twitter
but that clearly doesn't work because nobody is even considering stopping when it comes to shitting all over Gobert as a player.
You almost feel bad for the guy at this point, but then you remember he's on a legit title contender while playing under a $205M deal so this may just be the way it goes. So everyone shits on you and trolls you online, at the end of the day you're still a 4x DPOY playing on a max deal, which doesn't seem too bad.